Paint

The first Paint horses came to America by ship with the Spanish explorers. In time some of these horses escaped and began to wander across America. They roamed all the way out to the Great Plains where they were captured by Native American tribes.

The Native American tribes like the Sioux and the Comanche loved the Paint for their pretty colors, fast speed, and kind personality. The Native Americans believed Paints were very special or “sacred,” animals.

Paints have powerful back legs that let them run fast for a long time. But most importantly Paints have a friendly personality.

Jack says:

In the late 1900s painted horses were also called skewbald and piebald.

Paints are a horse of many colors. Paints come in white, black, bay, brown, chestnut, palomino, buckskin, and grey. Markings that cover come in all shapes and sizes but appear in three patterns. Each pattern has a special name.

They’re called Overo, Tobiano and Tovero.

Overo paints have more white in their coat. The word Overo comes from Spanish and means “like an egg.” The dark color of an Overo will be consistent from the end of the neck to the tail. Tobianos will typically have the white color across its back. Toveros have a dark color around the ears, which may expand to cover the forehead and/or eyes as well as around the mouth or up the neck. One or both eyes will be blue and the rest of the body will be white.

Grace says:

When a Paint horse has more white patterns it is called louder.

Cowboys also loved Paints. Paints are super fast. They are great listeners. This makes them perfect cattle horses. Riders use Paints at the rodeo for barrel racing, roping and many other fun events.